We’ve been getting such a great response to our survey (link above) with so many of you writing comments. Here are just a few below:

Unbelievable that they can even think of flying so many planes over an area that has so many listed properties that will not take the strain – Ramsgate has suffered enough so give it time to regenerate. Yes, it’s always been an airport but not a CARGO AIRPORT!

Another here:

I found RSP’s chirpy & buoyant presentation in Ramsgate very offensive, given the terrible impact their proposals threaten to unleash on the town of Ramsgate (which has improved & flourished immensely since Manston closed down). All the significant blight issues of 24h flight noise, pollution etc. completely bulldozed under a slick presentation of a benign `fantasy airfield’ illustrated with a Toy Town architectural model.

And another:

I am furious that no one on my neighbourhood were informed of the consultation. The original proposal of a 2km radius amended to 3km is outrageous considering 1000s of residents are directly under the flight path. I am also flabbergasted that the chosen national newspaper as a channel for publicising the consultation was The Times (considering the demographic of Thanet). The extent of social media exposure was a twitter feed and Facebook page. Hardly comprehensive. I had to find out from a friend in Minster but many others have not had an opportunity because they had no idea the consultation was occurring.

And another:

Found staff antagonistic once they realised that I had concerns about their proposal leading to them turning their back and walking away. They appeared to only want to talk to supporters.
Questions such as “where do the cargo airlines go now and would jobs be lost or moved from those destinations” could not or would not be answered.

Try to encourage your friends, neighbours, work colleagues to write. Remember, write to the Planning Inspectorate, to Thanet District Council and to RSP themselves and keep a copy of what you have sent and when you sent it.

Returning the airport to Manston would impact adversly on all the huge efforts made by so many businesses and the local community. Ramsgate is a wonderful peaceful place to live and a big tourist destination – lets keep it that way.

The first I knew of RSP’s intention to return Manston to a cargo airport with the capability of up to 17000 flights a year was when a neighbour posted a flyer in my letter box. I live under the flight path in Ramsgate, surely RSP should have made more public their intentions to those who would be most affected. The public meetings were also very poorly advertised and not enough of them. When
Manston was operational 3 years ago I had no objections to cargo planes flying over as there were only about 3 flights a day and never any at night.
Kent is the garden of England, a great area for tourism. The architecture is beautiful
the countryside amazing, it is a place of great archealogical interest, and we have
wonderful cliffs and beaches. Ramsgate is lucky that it has all of these features. Why on earth must this be spoiled now by low flying cargo planes passing overhead. It will diminish the tourist industry, people will not choose to live here any more businesses will suffer.
Manston has never been able to make a profit, maybe RSP can make lots of money for themselves at the cost of ruining the lives and habitat of thousands of people.
What we need in the area is affordable housing and the creation of jobs not the demise of a lovely seaside town.

How can anyone think that a noisy polluting airport could be better than house, businesses and a large parkland?
Also an airport goes against all current policies on climate change, noise and making best use of that scarce resource- land.
Together with no economic justification, it is clearly unacceptable and unnecessary.

I am bemused by the plans still to try and use Manston as an airport of some sort. The plans are wild and nonsense based on figures plucked out of the sky (no pun) ! There has been far too much time wasted here. We need prosperity and affordable homes for our residents. We need it now, not in 10-20 years down the pipeline. The site owners plans are much more friendly to the Isle with no pollution or noise of any sort unlike what is proposed by the American Company. We don’t need or want a freight depot and breakers in the middle of our lovely coastal towns causing us a nuisance. A lot of work has progressed over the years it has been closed down, bringing tourism and visitors to Thanet. This would be lost with a noisy polluting airport on our doorsteps keeping everyone awake at night.
Keep Manston as it will always be remembered in our minds as a military defence airfield. It has never been able to make any success as a commercial airport of any kind and it never would. Bring this fiasco to an end once and for all and bring hope to the people and residents of Thanet.
No to an airport.

When first elected I wrote to MP Craig McKinley expressing my opposition to maintaining Manston as an airport, I have had no consultation documents come to me and the one RSP I saw on the computer I was unable to fathom, being in general computer illiterate. This is the first time I have had a chance to express an opinion.
I live in Ramsgate at CT11 9NF
Manston airport as a commercial enterprise has been explored by experienced companies over a long period. The present proposals to reopen the airport are no more convincing than previous ones There has been no proof that by using Manston for freight will give much employment and the damage to the environment, the,town as tourist and heritage centres will be lost, losing more than is to be gained by this proposal..

This is a flagrant display of naked avarice disguised as potential economic benefit to the community, of which there would be none. In the pursuit of profit at all costs, the proposal rides roughshod over personal, social and above all environmental concerns. We protest against it.

There has, I feel been too much behind the back collusion surrounding this proposal. Constant heavy cargo planes flying in low over Ramsgate town and adjacent residential areas will cause a huge safety issue and increased pollution from aircraft fuel and from the transporters delivering and collecting the cargo. As a family directly affected by planes coming into land over our heads we are TOTALLY OPPOSED TO THIS PROPOSED CARGO HUB.

I feel there has been minimal contact and information readily available to Ramsgate residents who will be directly impacted. I was not able to attend the meetings
due to work constraints and only one was held in my home town – Ramsgate.
Only last year we received a leaflet telling us all about the new business park and all that it would offer to benefit. This air freight proposal has been rushed
through without proper consultation or information for Ramsgate residents.
At a time when this corner of Kent is beginning to pull itself out of the economic doldrums due to the sheer will and affection residents have for this historic town
the last thing we need is huge, noisy, polluting freight planes blighting our lovely coastal town.
What we need is jobs and housing – the freight cargo will drive people away in their droves. We need a thriving tourist market – and this area of Kent is beautiful
enough to rival that of the Southwest and other popular holiday destinations. The income and jobs provided by a thriving tourist industry in East Kent would far
outweigh any shortsighted quick fix fast buck that the freight hub would aim to provide.
AND a tourism industry has lasting power – it would grow and increase.
People of Thanet deserve a voice and a clean, quiet place to live and bring up our children NOT a town ruined by noisy polluting aircraft flying close enough to
skim the chimney tops AND our roads clogged by lorries distributing the freight flown into the area.
If air freight is such a problem – why can’t the flight path be routed across the miles of agricultural land and countryside around Thanet and not directly over our
homes. This proposal would be a death knell for a beautiful heritage town – once so great in our history. This tragedy must not be allowed to happen.

I feel you’ve hit the nail on the head here. The benefit of this cargo hub will only benefit RSP who will be ‘Out of sight and sound’ of the devastation this proposal will cause. Ramsgate just does not need this BLOT ON OUR LANDSCAPE – the regeneration is continuing and residents are reaping the benefit of prestigious ventures.
The whole process of consultation is so lacking in getting the full representation from those most affected and more importantly from those against it. In RSPs literature they state that they have had 800 replies – there are 40,000 local residents, so how can this be a true representation?

TDC have a huge responsibility to protect our environment and consider the wellbeing of Council Tax payers and not continue to be swayed by the overbearing American group who’s only concern is their profit regardless of local wishes.